"It Can Be
Done" An Interview With an Israeli Peace Activist by elana levy

Dr. Galia Golan has been a
leader of Peace Now (an Israeli peace group), a founding member of Bat Shalom
(daughter of peace) and the Israel Women's Network. She has written extensively
on the Arab-Israeli conflict, Israel-Palestinian dialogue, and gender and militarization.
The following are excerpts of an interview with elana levy, which will be broadcast
on Women's Voices Radio, Thursday, October 13, 8-9 pm,
FM88.

el: How would you characterize
the present situation in Israel-Palestine?

GG: We're almost in a holding position right now. Everybody is holding their
breath to see what's going to happen. It could be a period of tremendous positive
potential, if this were a first step. This was a tremendous achievement to finally
withdraw: to take out the military, take down 25 settlements and basically defeat
the settler movement, or at least strike a serious blow. We proved that we can
take down settlements, which is absolutely required to have a peace agreement.
The settlers pulled out all the stops to prevent disengagement. In the end it
went very quickly, very smoothly. It was proof, when the government makes a
decision, the Knesset [Israeli parliament] approves it, the population is for
it, the settlers can't stop it.

One thing which is clear, if Israel continues settlement building and targeted
assassinations, if there's no progress towards further withdrawals, if there's
no return to negotiations, all will collapse. Hamas will regain strength and
begin their terrorism again. You can count on the Israeli government to bring
in the air force again. This is the history of occupation. Occupation is going
to breed resistance, resistance is going to breed oppression, and the whole
thing spirals. This has been going on for years. The people know that. The army
knows that, the government knows it, the Palestinians also know it. But there
are many Palestinians who say it was violence that got Israel out of Lebanon,
and it was violence that got them out of Gaza. And then say, let's continue.
It could happen that way.

PROTEST CATERPILLARThe US corporation which supplies bulldozers to the Israeli
militarySaturday, October 29
Place and time to be announced

This is one of a coordinated set of protests in the Northeast to hold
Caterpillar Corporation accountable for the use of its bulldozers by the
Israeli army.

Local contact: elana levy, 472-5711

el: Where do the Israeli people
situate themselves in this whole struggle?
GG: The tragedy of it is, both peoples, the Israelis and the Palestinians, have
had enough. You have majority support in Israel and Palestine for a two state
solution. And a sense, certainly on the Israeli side, of a willingness to take
down most of the settlements. It doesn't mean these things would happen easily.
The publics on both sides are ready. But there was also serious damage done
by the failures of the past. The failure of Oslo talks, the failure of the Camp
David talks, the al Aqsa intifada, and the tremendous amount of violence and
killings on both sides was traumatic for both societies and will be hard to
overcome. But the truth is you have Palestinian leadership that opposed the
intifada, that said this is not the way to get back to negotiations. In Israel
you still have a strong tendency that says there is no partner on the other
side. The only hope is to get back to negotiations. There is a partner on the
Palestinian side, and we have to prove there is an Israeli partner. There is
this sense that now the Palestinians have to prove that they can rule themselves.
In my opinion, Abu Mazzin can't do that without some further gesture from Israel.
The withdrawal from Gaza was not a victory for Abu Mazzin, it was unilateral,
had nothing to do with his leadership. The peace movement in Israel is pressing
to take down outposts, to freeze settlements, release of prisoners, that will
strengthen Abu Mazzin's position that negotiations are the way to go

el: As peace activists in the US,
how can we effectively support the peace forces in Israel?
GG: I believe that in the US, the most effective thing is pressing the government
to take an active role, much the way the Clinton administration did, in getting
negotiations going again. Bringing pressure on both sides to negotiate, and
negotiate till agreement.

Everybody knows what an agreement will look like. You've got to get these guys
into a room. There will be militants on both sides who won't like it, but it
can be done. The tragedy is that we go on killing each other until we get there.
In the past it's only been American pressure and domestic pressure that's made
any difference in Israel. I want to see a return to negotiations. I want to
see strong positions on both sides that violence isn't going to do it, razing
the villages isn't going to do it, settlement expansion isn't going to do it,
and neither is suicide bombings.

It can be done. There are solutions.

elana levy (rachimin@hotmail.com)
has actively worked for Israeli-Palestinian peace since 1982 in Syracuse. She
is a member of Syracuse Jewish Peace.